


No Matter What

by eafay70



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: (and his trade to the Maple Leafs), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Mention of John Tavares, Mention of Kyle Dubas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-07-27 06:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Mitch and Willy support each other when they can't quite keep their happy faces in place.





	No Matter What

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skyscraperblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyscraperblue/gifts).



> Hi!! :) I really liked your idea of Mitch, Willy, or both feeling vulnerable/insecure under the normal happy front. I hope you like this take on that idea!
> 
> This fic takes place during an alternate version of the summer of 2018 - specifically, Willy signs a new contract before the events of this fic. (I don't know enough about the money side of hockey to hypothesize a number for his contract, but it's not important to this story. The important part is that it's done and dusted when the story begins.) I guess it might help to imagine JT's signing as later in the summer than in real life, but I'm not sure.

It was hard work to look good all the time.

When Willy thought about that, he didn't just think about his "Prince Charming face and hair and everything," to borrow Mitch's wording. Willy also thought about the mental side of things - the sunny optimism that matched his blond locks.

It wasn't always easy to be an optimist when playing for the Leafs. To be completely honest, his optimism had felt like stupidity during contract negotiations. But in Willy's experience, having at least one optimist in a group made things go more smoothly, so he decided to be one for the Leafs.

The fact that the Leafs had an additional optimist in Mitch? Even better. The fact that the optimists were in a relationship didn't seem to mean anything, but Willy wasn't complaining about that.

No, Willy's current complaint was that Mitch's face dropped whenever they were alone. Mitch insisted everything was fine, and Willy didn't want to press, but he could tell something was wrong. Why wouldn't Mitch talk to him? Surely they didn't have to be optimists when it was just the two of them, right?

**

Willy and Mitch were sitting together on the couch when the news broke (and practically broke their phones with notifications): John Tavares was now a Toronto Maple Leaf!

"Another lifelong fan on the team should be fun, hm?" Willy smiled at Mitch, who...wasn't smiling back.

"I guess, yeah," Mitch mumbled.

Willy reached out toward Mitch's hand. "What is it, sweetheart? You can tell me."

"I don't want him changing things," Mitch whispered, taking Willy's hand. "He's going to be the star, so everything will be made to suit him. And it's not personal against him - it's the way the business is. But it makes me nervous about the team, and me, and you, and..."

"I understand," said Willy softly. "Change can be a lot to deal with. But the team will do well, I think. We just have to work hard and keep our spirits up, you know?"

"Yeah," Mitch frowned. "Happy faces."

Willy frowned, too. "What does that mean?"

"Just...we're always the happy ones, you know? It's why everyone likes us - well, that's not the only reason, probably, but it's true."

"I..." Willy paused in thought. "I guess we both exhaust ourselves sometimes, then. But we don't have to smile all the time when it's just us - you know that, right?"

"I know it, but sometimes I forget it," Mitch admitted. "I'm not completely used to it."

"That's fair." Willy leaned closer to Mitch. "I'll just remind you whenever you forget."

Mitch nodded. "Do you think the team stuff will affect us?"

"No," Willy said firmly. "Nothing with the team is going to pull at this relationship. It's you and me all the way, got it?"

"Through thick and through thin," Mitch affirmed softly. He finally smiled. "No matter what."

Willy kissed him quickly. "No matter what Tavares or Dubas throws our way, you and me."

**

Willy knew better than to read his own press, but that didn't stop him from wanting to read more about his newest teammate. That turned into reading about the Leafs as a whole, which turned into reading about himself before he realized it.

"Why are you frowning, Prince Charming?" Mitch sat down on the bed and clasped his hand on Willy's knee.

"It's nothing." Willy quickly put away his phone. "Just reading."

Mitch didn't look convinced. "Do you want to talk about it? Whatever it was, it had you frowning at your phone for so long that I was worried about you getting wrinkles."

"Wrinkles? Never!" Willy gasped melodramatically. "I'm too handsome for wrinkles, you know that!"

"Hence my concern," Mitch explained fondly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but...it's like what you said the other day. We don't have to always be happy when it's just you and me."

Willy nodded and placed his hand over Mitch's. "I was reading about Tavares, and that got me reading about the team, and that got me reading about me. I know I should have stopped when I realized what I was doing, but...I didn't, and...it wasn't all that great."

"Press usually isn't," Mitch pointed out. "It tends to put a negative slant on things because...well, I guess it attracts more readers or something? I don't really know why."

"But what if it's right?" Willy whispered.

Mitch shook his head. "I know you know it's not right. I know you know you're amazing on the ice because you've told me so."

"Way to make me sound cocky," Willy sighed, no real heat in his words.

"You are cocky at times," Mitch replied. "But I happen to wholeheartedly agree that you're amazing on the ice."

"Thanks." Willy smiled at Mitch, who smiled back. "You're pretty amazing, too. Not just on the ice - you're amazing in a lot of ways."

"If you think I'm amazing, you should meet my boyfriend," Mitch laughed. "He's absolutely amazing in every way I can think of, even if he forgets that sometimes."

"Well, nobody's perfect." Willy kissed Mitch's cheek. "Even so, you and me no matter what - no matter how often we forget that we're amazing."

"You'd better believe it."

**

Preseason was rockier than either Willy or Mitch would have liked, though they had to admit it made sense given the various changes to the team. As per usual, both of them stuck to their optimistic demeanors - Willy showed off his flow to lighten up the mood in the dressing room, and Mitch made everyone else smile with his ridiculous amounts of energy. By the time the regular season started, team morale seemed to have settled at a nice level.

Mitch confided in Willy that he was more nervous about this season than he'd ever been before. Willy admitted that he felt the same way - the fans' expectations were higher, which meant a greater possibility of disappointment. But together they agreed that they just had to keep doing what they did best on the ice. And through it all, they knew that they would be together no matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
